Lesotho Seeks To End Blockade

Coup Leader Wants Closer Ties With S. Africa

January 22, 1986|By United Press International.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — The new leader of Lesotho moved Tuesday to improve relations with South Africa and end a 3-week-old economic blockade of the tiny mountain kingdom, which Pretoria has accused of backing black rebels.

Gen. Justin Lekhanya, the military leader who seized power in Lesotho in a bloodless coup Sunday, sent former Foreign Minister Evaristus Sekhonyana to Cape Town for discussions with South African Foreign Minister Roelof Botha.

After a two-hour meeting, the officials issued a joint statement saying they exchanged views ``on matters of importance to both countries which could hopefully lead to a lessening of tension.``

Both men ``emphasized the need to work actively for the promotion of good neighborliness.`` No details were released, and Sekhonyana returned home.

A South African army spokesman also announced that South African soldiers went to the Lesotho capital of Maseru on Monday, only hours after Lekhanya toppled Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan, who had been in power for 20 years.

``Members of the defense force were involved in discussing, among other things, common security matters,`` the spokesman said.

Lesotho Radio said Lekhanya headed a delegation that met secretly with Botha in Pretoria on Friday. The nature of the discussions was not disclosed. Jonathan had gone into hiding last week after Lekhanya attempted to pressure him into improving relations with South Africa. The deposed leader emerged from seclusion Sunday and accused South Africa of attempting to topple him.

South Africa surrounds Lesotho, which won independence from Britain in 1966, and employs more than half of Lesotho`s adult men.

South African officials had clashed verbally with Jonathan, accusing him of supporting African National Congress guerrillas who are seeking to overthrow Pretoria`s white-minority government.

South Africa imposed an economic blockade on Lesotho on Jan. 1 to force Jonathan to expel ANC guerrillas allegedly responsible for a Dec. 23 bombing near Durban that killed five people.

Gasoline supplies in Lesotho ran out last week and there were shortages of medicine and fresh foods.

In the wake of the coup Sunday, however, a truck convoy and at least two trains carrying food and gasoline were permitted to cross the border, diplomats in Maseru said.

Diplomats said the streets of Maseru were calm Tuesday, with a only few soldiers on patrol.

Lekhanya, commander of the 1,500-man combined police and military force, addressed Lesotho for the first time in a brief radio broadcast.

``As we begin a new path towards true national reconciliation, I humbly implore (civil servants) to render service to all members of the public and the nation as a whole with respect, humility and without discrimination,`` he said.